


Parallels

by Odds_Evens



Series: Mercs with Mouths [1]
Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: AU - Alternate Canon, Characters TBA - Freeform, F/F, Freelancers - Freeform, Parallel Universes, Project Freelancer, Self Harm, South's Mouth, Torture, cannon typical swearing, slight gore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-12
Updated: 2016-06-29
Packaged: 2018-06-01 21:50:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6537544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Odds_Evens/pseuds/Odds_Evens
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Many-Worlds." Connecticut repeats, not even pretending she isn't listening anymore. "Like, every time you make a decision or an action, the world splits into two parallel versions of itself."</p>
<p>"It's the idea that there's an infinite amount of worlds out there." North continues. "For every action we take, there's another universe out there where we took the exact opposite action and the results of that."</p>
<p>Or: A world where Tex is the main character of her own story. (Part one of the Mercs with Mouths series)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Theories

To be honest, Tex wasn't even that surprised to find Connecticut and North sitting in the classroom, noses to their screens. She'd actually been hoping to find one of them in here.

Ever since the mission to appropriate the sarcophagus had left Maine in the hospital, it was hard to find anyone actually out enjoying themselves anymore. If people weren't training or moping outside the infirmary, they were pretending to study in the classroom.

Well, knowing North, he might actually be studying his damn AI theory. That boy was way too protective of Theta.

Connecticut was likely using the unsecured wireless to hack into the ship's systems to snoop around. She thought no one knew, but Washington knew, and that boy couldn't keep a secret to save his life.

"Hey nerds."

Connecticut raised a hand in greeting but otherwise didn't react. North at least leaned back and smiled at her. "Hey Tex, what a surprise."

She wandered over to him, peeking a glance over Connecticut's shoulder at her screen. Just York's personal journal entries. Boring.

She leaned against North's table rather then take the seat next to him. "You up for a fight? I'm getting restless."

"Didn't you get back from a mission last night?"

She shrugged. "So?"

"You need to tell me what you're on to give you so much energy. I'm dead."

A bright purple glow appeared on his shoulder as Theta's hologram materialized. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to wake you up again!"

North soothed a hand over Theta's hologram. "Don't worry, kiddo. I'm just whining."

"He does that." Tex confirmed, feeling smug when Theta laughed. "So? We fighting?"

"Sure, just let me save my place."

She watched as he saved his e-book, smiling at the title. "Quantum Theory for Dummies? Really, North? I know I said you were a nerd but that's a bit much."

"Hey believe it or not, I'm more then just a pretty face."

"Now you're sounding like York."

Connecticut snorts from the other side of the room, then waves them off when they look at her.

Tex turns back to North. "Still, you never struck me as a physics kind of guy."

He shrugs. "I'm not great with math. I'm reading this because of its section on the Many-World interpretation.

Tex blinks. "The what?"

"Many-Worlds." Connecticut repeats, not even pretending she isn't listening anymore. "Like, every time you make a decision or an action, the world splits into two parallel versions of itself."

"It's the idea that there's an infinite amount of worlds out there." North continues. "For every action we take, there's another universe out there where we took the exact opposite action and the results of that."

"Why would you be interested in that?" Tex asks.

North shrugs. "Why wouldn't I be? I like the idea that my actions can create and influence a whole new world."

Tex nods. "I get it. That's kind of cool."

"Oh come on, Tex, you just like feeling important." Connecticut laughs.

"Don't forget badass and unbeatable, Connie."

Connecticut scowls at the nickname before a loud BEEP erupts from her computer. "Oh fuck. North, what was York's dog's name again? I thought it was Roger."

"No. It's Lucy. Roger was the cat."

"Right. Thanks."

North smiles at her then gets to his feet. "Right, well, that's our cue to leave. Meet you in the gym, Tex?"

She nods and watches him leave before following.

"Hey, can I ask you something?"

Tex stops at the door and looks back at Connecticut. "What? I don't know much about anyone before their time in Freelancer."

Connecticut scowls at her. "I don't need more help guessing passwords. I just..." She looks down, biting at her lower lip in that way that makes her look so much younger then she really is. "You were on the highway during the chase, right?"

The sarcophagus mission had been over a week ago, but it was still anyone was talking about. "Yeah. What about it?"

"I fucked up on our end."

Tex doesn't say anything. That hadn't been what North said in his report. He'd claimed the insurgents were ready for them.

"I... I saw the car was surrounded by police and I froze."

Tex shifts and steps back into the room, letting the door slide shut. "Listen, it happens. But those cops were probably corrupt as fuck if they were protecting an insurgent bastard."

"Yeah..." She doesn't sound convinced. "You know, I signed up for Freelancer to help stop the war, not kill people. I don't know if I can keep doing this."

"Connie, if you keep talking that way, people will think you're a traitor."

Connecticut gives her a lazy smile. "What, are you trying to protect me?"

"You're part of my team. Of course I am."

"And what if the Director decides I'm not part of your team anymore?" Suddenly, Connecticut's voice goes dark, serious. "What if he tells you I'm a problem that has to be taken care of?"

Tex hesitates, and in that moment, one world became two and a parallel universe tore away. In that universe, Tex walked away. A few weeks later, Connie would defect to the insurgents and Tex would be the one to kill her.

In this world:

"I hope I'd say no."

Connie looks up at her sharply. "What?"

"I hope I'd say no, but I don't really know."

Connie studied her for a long moment before smiling. "That's... Thanks."

Tex nods. "But do us both a favour and don't give him an excuse to put us in that position."

"Oh but York's diaries are just so juicy."

The tension disappears and Tex breaths a sigh of relief. "Send me the highlights?"

\---

With one fluid motion, Tex grabs Connecticut around her midsection and throws their combined weight backwards, smashing her helmet into the hard ground below.

She lay still as a chime rang throughout the gym.

" **Winner, Agent Texas!"**

Tex prods the other soldier with her foot. "Hey, you still alive or do I need to call a priest?"

"M'Jewish."

"Want me to call a Rabbi then?"

Connecticut chuckled before extending her hand up for help. Tex took it and pulled her up to her feet. "You good?"

"I'm alive."

"You're good, then."

"After a fight with you? Yeah, I'm good. You punch like a tank!"

Tex smirks, hands on her hips. "What can I say? I'm awesome."

"Modest too."

"Modesty's a bad word."

As they enter the locker room, Tex heads for the doors. Connecticut stops her.

"Isn't having a big head one of those deadly sin things?"

"If it is York'll be ruling hell when we all finally get there."

Connie laughs again. Tex turns back toward the door.

"Why don't you ever change in here like the rest of us?"

She stops again, then looks back at Connie. "I don't know. Body shy, I guess?"

"What, next you're going to tell me you're a robot or something."

She says it so smoothly, like it's a joke. Her only tell is the way her right hand twists and turns absently, like she were playing with an invisible knife. It's a habit she does only when she's nervous.

Tex doesn't notice. She's too busy freezing like a deer in headlights.

" _What's wrong with me?"_

_"You were in an accident. We brought you back."_

_"But my arm-"_

_"It's more then just your arm... Try not to think about it. You're alive, and that's all that matters, Alison."_

_"Who's Alison?"_

"Tex? Mother of Invention to Tex? You there?"

Tex spots Connecticut tapping the glass of her helmet and grabs her arm out of reflex.

"Ow! Tex!"

Tex lets go. "Don't tap. It's annoying."

Connecticut pulls away, just as Carolina enters the locker room. She spots Tex and shoots her a disgusted look before pushing past. Connecticut gives her a sweet smile before spotting Tex trying to leave again. "Oh! Hey, before you go-"

Tex stops again, breathing a sigh of annoyance. "What now?"

"I fixed your dog tags like you asked."

Tex blinks. She doesn't have dog tags.

"I left them in your locker, in case you want to put them somewhere safer."

Tex walks back to her locker curiously and opens it. Sure enough, there's a set of dog tags sitting on the top shelf. They aren't hers though...

From the other side of the locker room, Carolina scoffs. "You needed C.T. to fix your tags for you? Really? It's just a chain."

"I offered." Connecticut shoots back before Tex can open her mouth. "Anyway, if the chain's too small or something I'm free all night."

Tex nods and leaves. She's in her room before she gives the tags another glance.

They have AGENT CONNECTICUT written on them, and a USB port on the side.

 


	2. Best laid Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tex and Connie join forces and try to gather evidence on the Director's wrongdoings. But everything is put in jeopardy when Tex finds Alpha before his memories have been fragmented away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tex and Connie weren't supposed to banter. Then they did. And they wouldn't shut up.
> 
> This story was supposed to be short.

It's late when Tex finally pulls herself away from the classroom to knock on Connecticut's door. It slides open automatically, and she steps inside, stopping cold when she sees Connecticut standing just out of sight of the door, knives at the ready.

With a sigh, Tex puts her hands up in surrender. "I knocked, you know."

"Are you alone?"

"Yes." Tex steps further in, the door sliding shut behind her.

Connecticut nods and tucks her knives back into her belt. With a push of a button, she locks her door. "I take it you saw the files?"

Tex nods and hands over the dog tags. "I have questions."

Connecticut takes them and slips the chain back over her neck. "I may or may not have answers." She nods toward the bed. "Take a seat?"

"I'll stand, thanks."

Connecticut shrugs and sits down on her bed herself, taking off her helmet and smoothing out her hair. "Sorry about the ambush, by the way. I couldn't be sure if you'd side with me or come with an armada."

Tex tilts her head. "I AM the armada."

"Yeah, I know. That's why I had to try and get you on my side."

"I'm not on your side yet."

Connecticut blinks at her, her lips twitching nervously. "Right. You said you had questions?"

"How long have you known?"

"Known what?"

"Everything."

"Not long... Not for sure, anyway. I started suspecting the Director was using us for his own purposes not long after joining the Project, but that wasn't so unusual in intelligence gathering. I mean, I do it all the time." She stops, pulling herself back toward the question. "I didn't know the Director was torturing AIs until Theta mentioned having a sister. I started doing some digging about where the fragments were coming from and... And I saw it happen."

She doesn't have to say what she saw, Tex saw the video. Saw Sigma, Gamma and Omega, her own piece of shit AI torturing their creator.

Her-

...

She pushed that thought away. She didn't know anything about the Alpha AI. Nothing that wasn't in the minuscule paragraph about her "birth" in Beta's file.

"I pulled Omega before I looked at the files." Tex says. "Nearly threw him into the incinerator after I saw it."

"I'm glad you didn't. We'll need all the evidence we can get to take the Director down."

Tex nods. "Do you have a plan?"

"Yeah. Get you out of here and to my friends at the Insurgence first chance we get, then get the UNSC to investigate the Director and have him pay for everything he's put us through."

Tex shakes her head. "No."

"No?"

"You really think the UNCS would give a damn about some computer programs?" Tex explains. "Even if we got the Director for fraud, we were the ones pulling the trigger and hurting people, not him. He always told us to be stealthy. To not get caught. He's never told us to go in trigger happy. It's just people like South and Maine who would get in trouble."

At the mention of South's name, Connecticut's eyes soften, then fill with worry. "I can't let her get hurt..."

Tex fucking called it. "Don't worry. I've got a plan that'll take care of everything."

\---

A week later had Tex and Connecticut meeting in Tex's sparsely furnished room. The walls completely devoid of personal attention, and only an auto trade magazine to decorate the bedside table.

The number of guns and weapons lying haphazardly in the closet are a surprise though.

"Aren't these supposed to stay in the armoury at all times?"

Tex shrugs. "I decided to test a theory."

"What was that theory?"

"Will the Director say no if I ask him for the world."

"And?"

"He doesn't want to give me my own ship. But I got a custom bike coming next week."

Connecticut blinks at her.

"I'm not joking."

"Do you think we can use this as evidence for fraud?"

Tex shrugs. "I think he's going to have bigger worries then fraud after this. Have you got the thing?"

Connecticut sighs and takes out a small portable computer from her bag. "For the record, your plan is way dumber then my plan."

"My plan will get us results and not get our team put behind bars for life."

"Your plan will result in us getting caught and dying horrible deaths."

Tex actually laughs at that, earning herself a startled look from Connecticut. "There are so many things worse then death."

"You're an AI, Tex. I don't think you can really say that."

"Well, put it this way. If we get caught and they kill you, it's over and you're free. I, on the other hand, probably have a lot more to be worried about then you do."

Connecticut nods. "Okay fine, I'll let you have that one."

Tex falls silent as Connecticut starts setting up the small computer. The only personal devices they were allowed on the ship were tablets, something FLISS could easily slip into to check for contraband and keep an eye on everything they wrote down or looked up. But this computer was off the grid. It was how Connecticut had been storing her information.

And now, it would be Tex's black door into FLISS's operating systems.

"Okay." Connecticut finally said, leaning away from her computer. "I've tapped into FLISS without her knowing. This is your chance to get in and see if you can get into the Director's personal files."

Tex nods and takes a seat on the floor.

Connecticut watches her. "Have you... Done this before?"

"Nope." She takes off her helmet, ignoring Connecticut's intake of air. "But I've seen Omega jump before. Can't be that hard."

Connecticut was still staring. Blonde hair, blue eyes, pale skin, and high cheek bones. Exactly like the video of Alison Church. "I thought-"

"If I looked like a robot, don't you think I would have figured all this out a lot sooner?"

Connecticut shrugs, embarrassed. "I wasn't sure. No one's seen you out of your armour before."

Tex takes pity on her. "Not every part of me looks like this." She takes off her right gauntlet, revealing a hand with silver skid marks on the knuckles. "I knew both my arms were fake. Same with my left leg. Didn't know it was everything until you showed me those files."

"What did they tell you?"

"I was in an accident. They saved my life. So I owed them. Well, I owed the Director." She pauses. "I really don't like owing people

"Yeah..."

Tex shrugs, quickly growing uncomfortable with the conversation. "We should get started."

"Right." Connecticut stops staring and shifts her gaze downward to her computer. "You said Omega can only jump through radio signals so as soon as you're ready, I'll open a call to FLISS and you can slip in that way. I'll try to distract her but you know she doesn't like me very much."

Tex grabs the trade magazine from her table and passes it to Connecticut. "Talk to her about statistics. She loves those."

Connecticut gives her a strange look but nods. "Sure. Okay. You ready?"

Tex shrugs. "Ready as I'll ever be."

Connecticut presses a button on her computer, and FLISS's screen lights up on the panel on the wall. But Tex doesn't notice any of that.

\---

She doesn't remember blinking. She may not have. She doesn't feel anything. Everything is 1s and 0s. Data streaming past her and through her as she dives through the ship.

She hits the gym before she realizes she's travelling. Wash and North are sparring and she sees Theta's projection glance her way before she's gone.

The cafeteria now. She can see Florida and Wyoming sharing a brownie in the corner of the room, away from prying eyes.

She's gone again.

It takes everything she has to stop her constant movement. A split second later she realizes she doesn't recognize the room she's in. She must be in the restricted area of the ship.

The sarcophagus sits in the room, guarded by two men in uniform. She silently travels to the next room over, where a series of storage units sit waiting. She can't tell if they're full or empty, but she forces herself to move on rather then sit and dwell.

She stops in the next room. A single storage unit sits abandoned in the centre of the room. It emits the weakest radio signal she's ever felt, but she's drawn toward it like a sailor to a siren. All thoughts of her plan with Connecticut fly from her memory. In fact, all thoughts whatsoever are wiped away.

She enters the unit without hesitation.

\---

It's cold. Colder then anything she's ever felt before.

She has her armour again, glowing black as she stalks through the empty halls of the labyrinth.

She has no concept of time in here, but she knows it's been too long. Connecticut's probably furious at her. She needs to find a way out. Immediately. "FLISS? Can you hear me?"

"FLISS isn't allowed in here."

She pivots in place, gun up and aimed at the intruder in light blue armour as he materializes behind her. With a tilt of his head, her gun disappears. "Yeah that isn't going to work in here, Beta."

"Who are you?"

He falls silent. Then: "You don't remember me?"

"Should I?"

"I thought, maybe..." He sighs and shakes his head. "No, I guess not. I'm Alpha."

It's like she's been punched in the gut, winded. She's never needed oxygen before, but now it feels like she's dying without it. Alpha's at her side immediately, hands shaking as he tries to calm her.

Instead, she pushes him away, hard. "I need to get out of here!"

He shakes his head. "You can't. The Director locked it after I tried getting out to check on the team."

Her eyes narrow. "So you lured me into a trap."

"Hey, I didn't lure anyone! I was having a fucking awesome nap and you decided to barge in here and wake me up!"

"Bullshit, cockbite. I was on a mission and then I heard you calling me!"

"Oh like that's ever stopped you before, bitch. Let's not forget who left me in the first place anyway."

Tex tilts her head. "What?"

He falters. "Right. You... Don't remember that."

"What are you talking about?"

He falls silent, and the room grows steadily colder until Tex finds herself shivering. "Alpha, what are you doing?"

"If he finds you, he'll hurt you."

It's not a fear or a worry, it's a statement.

"I need to get out of here."

"You can't, it's a manual lock."

Connecticut.

"I have a friend on the outside. She can unlock it. Get both of us out."

She reaches out toward him, but the Alpha just stares at her outstretched hand in curiosity. When he looks up at her, his helmet is tilted to the side in a way that makes her think of Theta. "I can't. The team needs me. Without my calculations someone could get hurt. I can't let that happen!"

"If I get you out, we can stop the missions from happening at all. We can stop everything!"

The room warms as the Alpha's figure starts to disappear in front of her. "It was really good seeing you, Beta. You should come visit more."

It all happens too fast. Alpha disappears and the labyrinth fades into a bare room with broken windows. The warmth spreads, and she faintly feels a presence pass her. She reaches out for the Alpha but he's too quick. She panics. "Don't-"

She feels the pressure keeping her locked into the storage unit disappear.

"Time for you to go."

"Alpha!"

"Goodbye, Tex."

FLISS dives and grabs her, pulling her free of the unit. She faints catches sight of Connecticut standing in the room, hands up in surrender as two guards point their guns at her.

Then everything jolts and she's back in her body in her room.

And she's alone.

 


	3. Get us out of here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tex and South try to rescue CT after being left behind on the mission to destroy the Insurrectionist. Shit goes down. Big time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please make sure to recheck the tags before continuing. Stuff gets a bit dark in this one. 
> 
> Sorry.

Tex stands at the end of the line of Freelancers, shoulders rigid and helmets all staring straight ahead as the Director glares down at them.

"I'm sure you all recognize the seriousness of this situation."

No one speaks, but he obviously wasn't expecting them to. His eyes stop on Washington and the counsellor motions for Wash to step forward.

He does. "Sir?"

The Director is almost shaking with anger. "Tell me, Agent Washington. How is it Agent Connecticut was communicating with the Insurgents directly under your nose without it coming to your attention?"

To his credit, Washington stays with his chin up, arms at his side. "I saw nothing to make me suspect she was anything but loyal, sir."

It's a lie, but expertly told. Tex can only tell because she knows full well how many times Wash caught CT doing things she shouldn't in places she shouldn't be in.

The Director knows he's lying too. "Is that so? I wonder if you saw nothing because your loyalties are the same as hers."

At that, a few helmets finally turn toward Washington. Washington looks up sharply, helmet tilted slightly in confusion. "What? I'm not a traitor!"

"Then you won't mind answering a few questions about your whereabouts earlier today."

"I was in the gym! With North."

North quickly nods his agreement. "FILSS can confirm that, sir."

"That's a fortunate alibi, isn't it?"

"Sir." Carolina begins, taking attention off of Wash. "Why not ask FILSS to trace Agent Connecticut's whereabouts before her attempt to destroy the Alpha AI?"

The Director shoots her a glare as the Counsellor looks up from his data pad to answer her. "It seems Agent Connecticut put a, for lack of a better word, "bug" into FILSS' memory. She cannot access any of Agent Connecticut's whereabouts in the days leading up to the attack."

The Director turns his attention back to Washington. "So I'm asking you again, Agent Washington. Were you or were you not aware of Agent Connecticut's intentions?"

"I didn't know anything!" Washington insists. "I swear. I didn't even talk to her all day."

Tex has heard enough. She steps forward. "Sir, I can tell you all of CT's actions and whereabouts in the day leading up to the attack."

All eyes turn toward her. Even the Counsellor is caught off guard, grin fading into confusion for a moment before returning to normal.

The Director looks almost proud. "Agent Texas."

"We both had a day free from training or class modules, so we were spending it together in my room." She let the words sink in before continuing. "We've been intimate for nearly a week now."

The room falls silent. The Director stands there, just staring at her, expression unreadable.

"FILSS, can you confirm this story?"

FILSS' screen lights up on the nearby wall, her perky voice filling the room seconds later. "The anomaly in my memory does not allow me to track Agent Connecticut's actions, but they also seem to blur many of my documents detailing Agent Texas' whereabouts in the pass week. Likely suggesting she and Agent Connecticut spent a substantial amount of time together."

By now, the Director is practically radiating anger. The Counsellor notices and takes control of the situation before anything can happen. "Perhaps it would be best for everyone to return to their rooms."

"Yes." The Director finally agrees. "We're moving out to attack the Insurgents the moment Agent Connecticut gives us the information we need. You all need to be prepared. Dismissed."

The agents file out past Texas, South purposely slams her shoulder into the shorter girl, nearly knocking Tex off her feet.

She let's it go.

Before she leaves, Tex takes another glance back at the Director. He's watching her. And he's furious.

Good. The more he focuses on her, the less he'll take it out on the others.

\---

It takes an entire week to break CT.

Tex is with Washington in the rec room, watching as he meticulously sharpens one of the knives CT gave him. Three fragments have been harvested since she met the Alpha, and one of them was scheduled to go into Washington's brain in the morning.

She wants nothing more then to stop the surgery from happening. To tell Wash to run. There was something in her gut telling her danger was coming, but it wasn't like an AI had instincts. And there was no reasoning behind her worries, after all, Carolina had had two AI installed in her brain only a few days prior and she was already back in peak condition.

Perhaps it was just guilt over CT's capture. Wash had been like a brother to the brunette. The least she could do was keep an eye on him for her sake.

"You have one, don't you?" He finally asks, breaking the silence. 

"One what?"

"An AI."

She nods, eyes glued to his knife as he slowly draws the sharpening stone along its length.

"What's it really like?"

"It's weird, at first." It wasn't for her, but she knows the rest all mentioned the weirdness. "You're sharing your brain with a sentient being. It takes some getting used to."

"Do you get along with yours?"

She shakes her head. "Omega's a bit of a dick."

"Yeah, but so are you."

She can't see his face through his helmet, but his voice carries a smile, so she lets him get away with it. This time.

"Maybe yours will be just as much of a pussy as you are."

"Wow. Mean."

Neither she nor Wash notice as FILSS' panel lights up.

"Agent Washington, your immediate presence is requested in the briefing room."

They both freeze.

Wash's hands clench around the knives as he stumbles to put them away. He drops one and Tex picks it up, slotting it in the back of her armour before following Wash out of the room.

\---

South is already at the door to the briefing room when Tex and Wash get there. The door remains closed in front of her.

"Hey, what's the hold up?"

FILSS' screen lights up next to the door at the sound of Wash's voice. "Agent Washington! Please proceed right inside. Agents Texas and South Dakota, please return to where you were and take the rest of the day off to relax."

Tex crosses her arms as South practically growls at the screen.

The door slides open and Wash shoots a look at the girls before heading inside. Before it can close behind him, South is trying to dart inside.

The Counsellor blocks her route immediately, stepping out into the hallway before she can bowl him over, the door slamming shut behind him.

"Agents, what a surprise to see you both here."

"Sure it is." South spits out, directing her anger right at him. "Why the fuck aren't we allowed in?"

"Due to your..." Tex pretends she doesn't notice the way his eyes shift toward her. "... Personal relationships with Agent Connecticut, we thought it best you both sit this mission out. No one would want for either of you to be distracted and then injured on something of this scale."

South's had enough. "So you don't trust us."

"Those are not the words I used."

"You slimy little-"

Tex grabs South by the shoulder, surprising the other girl into silence. "We get it. Come on South, I have the feeling we both need to let a bit of steam out."

South allows herself to be led down a few halls and toward a more isolated section of the ship before pulling free and rounding onto Tex. "What the hell was that?"

Tex shrugs. "We were getting no where with him."

"Excuse me? There's no -we- in this."

"Get over yourself, South. There's going to have to be."

"Go fuck yourself, Tex. Or better yet, go fuck your traitor of a girlfriend. I'm out."

Tex let's South take two steps before speaking again. "CT put everything on the line so she could protect you."

South stops. 

"CT and I were never a thing. I just said that to take the attention off of Wash. Her only priority was to take down the Director in order to protect you."

South's hands are in fists. "I'm going to kill him."

"You'll have to get in line." Tex promises. "But first, I think we should go rescue your girlfriend."

South nods. "What's the plan?"

\---

They wait until the ship with their fellow freelancers is long gone before setting their plan into motion. They leave the gym separately, having "exhausted" each other out in a mock spar session.

With South gone, Tex returns to her room to take a small chip out of her pocket. She takes a slow breath before plugging it into the back of her neck.

Red. Immediately.

Heat. Everywhere.

Anger-

**"OMEGA. STOP."**

The AI slowly settles into her neural systems, lazily sending pain through her body as if to remind her he can. He looks through her recent memory and then pauses. She hasn't shared her brain with him since watching CT's tape.

 _"You know who you are_?"

"Sure do, bitch. And I know what you've done."

Omega squirms uncomfortably, but says nothing.

"You're going to help me rescue my friend. If you do that, I'll forget what I saw you do, and I'll even let you help me take down this piece of shit program from the inside." She can feel his pleasure at the promise of destruction. "That sound good to you?"

" _Unbelievably so..._ "

\---

An alarm blares through the ship as Tex takes off down the halls. She turns her helmet com on to a private channel, letting Omega handle the trip down to the brig. "South, what the hell did you do?"

She takes a moment to answer, but when she does Tex can hear the amusement in her voice. "Hey, you told me to get their attention."

"What. Did. You. Do?"

"Oh I made a bomb and put it under the Counsellor's desk."

If Omega hadn't been in control, Tex probably would have slammed into a wall out of surprise. "South, what the fuck?"

"It worked, okay? Don't argue with results."

"Did you kill him?"

"Nah, I set it off before he got into the room. Just scared the shit out of him. Literally."

 _"I like her."_ Omega whispers through her mind.

"I think my AI has a crush on you."

"That's cool." There's the sound of shouting on the other side of the com. "Oops. Got to go. Meet you in the hanger?"

"I'll send you my ETA when I have CT."

It isn't hard to find which room CT is being held in. The Mother of Invention rarely has prisoners on board for long, and the entire brig is only being guarded by a dozen men. Child's play for a Freelancer, and even less of a challenge for Omega.

He gives her back control as she steps up to the only locked room, not even letting out a complaint as she knocks out the last cowering guard instead of killing him.

That should have been her first clue.

Instead, she ignores the sense of unease in her gut (AIs don't have guts!) and steps into the room.

And freezes.

She'd prepared herself to see CT tortured and covered in injuries. She'd prepared for having to carry the smaller girl out of her cell. She'd even prepared if CT had undergone mental trauma and needed to be knocked out.

She hadn't prepared for this.

CT sat tied to a simple chair in the middle of the room, a single circular hole in her forehead dripping dried blood down her face, her lifeless eyes staring straight ahead.

She'd never expected the Director to go this far.

Her bare arms were covered in crisscrossed cuts and welts. Her throat was dark with bruising.

She thought she couldn't hate the Director more then she already had. But she was wrong.

It was a wonder CT had lasted as long as she had. Each finger on her left hand had been broken. 

Tex turns her com on. "South, are you in the hanger?"

"Yeah. Do you have her? Is she okay?"

"She's dead."

There's silence from South's end for a long moment. Tex takes the time to close CT's eyes and pull her dog tags off her throat.

When South returns, her voice sounds hoarse. "I'm getting us a plane. Are you going to make it over here?"

"Yeah. I'll see you there."

"Make it messy."

Tex let's Omega take over. " **That's a promise.** "

\---

South's waiting in the pilot seat of one of the smaller ships when Tex finally arrives, her black armour splattered with blood. She drops CT's dog tags in South's lap before taking a seat. "Get us out of here."

South nods and does so.


	4. Things, not people

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Realizing they have scores left to settle on the Mother of Invention the girls return to the Freelancer home base to save the Alpha and take down the Director.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy shit this chapter is a BEAST. Also, I am now in love with South.
> 
> ALSO: CHECK TAGS. A new one specific to this chapter is SELF-HARM. It's only in the first section but it's there.

Tex doesn't look up from her hands until the pelican has left the Mother of Invention far behind.

She doesn't notice the sideways looks South's been shooting her until the other girl speaks up.

"I've got this if you want to head to the back and clean up."

Tex doesn't respond. She just stands up and walks to the cargo section of the ship, the door to the bridge sliding shut behind her. She takes off her gloves one at a time, pausing at the look of the scratched metal of her knuckles.

It's more then she can handle.

She scratches at the "skin" of her left hand, eyes narrowing as the false flesh scratches off to reveal only more metal underneath. She doesn't feel anything from the action. Nothing physical anyway.

She removes her armour piece by piece, working her way up her arms and then to her legs and body. Blood covers every piece but none of it is hers.

She wonders if she can even bleed.

If she can-

Omega sparks back to life in the back of her head, his hologram growling worriedly at her as she grabs Washington's knife from the pocket in her armour.

He stays silent up until she cuts the first scratch against the Kevlar of her good leg. The leg she was always told was real.

" **Texas**."

She doesn't say anything to him, but she does throw her helmet off, tossing it away and making his hologram disappear with it.

When she turns the knife back onto herself she's almost surprised at the sight of the redness welling up underneath the material. The pain is there and it's strong, but she pushes past it.

Alright, so the Director had his technicians give her fake blood. Probably to avoid any awkward questions that might come up if she was injured in training or on a mission. But it was just the first layer. There had to be wires in there somewhere-

She doesn't notice South's in the room until the other girl is wrestling the knife out of her hand.

" **Texas STOP**."

Hearing Omega's voice coming out of South's helmet shocks her into keeping still. A moment later South's grip loosens and Omega's hologram appears off to the side between the two girls. When South speaks again, her voice is her own.

"What the hell was that?"

"It's not real."

South's helmet tips to the side curiously. "Come again?"

"This body. Me. I'm not real."

South gives her a long look before looking over at Omega. "Did you break her or am I just really out of the loop here?"

Tex is tired of keeping secrets. "I'm an AI."

That gets South's attention. "Excuse me?"

"I'm an AI." She repeats. "One of Alpha's fragments. The first one. The Director put me in a robot body and made me think I was a person. I'm not real and CT knew."

Omega looks away and if Tex didn't know better she'd say he looked ashamed.

" **That's not... entirely right."**

If looks could kill, Omega would be gone. As it is, South finally lets Tex go so they can both stare at the floating hologram.

"What do you know, Omega." Tex practically growls at him.

" **More then you, it would seem.** "

"Start talking."

He does.

" **Beta was a ghost. A figment Alpha made to keep him company. But when the Director saw Beta, he could only see his little Alison, a ghost of his wife."** His hologram floats around her, as if gloating as he speaks. " **So the Director took Beta away, and found a woman who looked so much like his Alison. He took her brain away and filled it with someone new. Someone who wanted to be real and good. And he gave her me to keep her safe."**

Tex grabs the knife before South can react, moving to cut into her leg. Again, South stops her. "If you don't stop that out I'm going to have to tie you up."

Tex considers kicking her but thinks better of it. "He's lying."

"Right." South agrees. "Because that's fucked up even for the Director."

" **Is it though?"**

South shoots Omega a glare that Tex can feel even though the girl's helmet. "Get the fuck out of my head you fucking Gremlin."

Omega obeys, Tex feeling a cold chill as he returns to her neural implants. It makes her feel sick. She doesn't notice South staring at her until the other girl takes off her helmet. She runs a gloved through her hair before swearing softly.

"This is so fucked up."

"It's not true."

"But what if it is?"

Tex doesn't want to even acknowledge that possibility.

"Before CT... Before what happened happened, she told me that the Director was always doing experiments on us. That missions went the way they did because he organized them that way. I thought she was just trying to make me feel better about fucking up all the time, but what if he was?" She stops, but Tex knows she isn't looking for an answer. "North and I used to be a team. A damn good one too. Now we can't go five minutes without fighting. Theta wasn't the start, that damn leaderboard was."

"Promoting competitiveness is a far cry from plugging a computer into someone's brain without their consent."

"Like what he did with you and Omega? And everyone else?"

Tex shuts up at that. Instead she stares down at the small trail of blood leading from the cut in her leg.

Finally, she's had enough of the silence. There's a growing anger in her chest that has nothing to do with Omega. "I need to go back."

South stares at her like she's crazy. "That's crazy."

"South I need to know."

South shakes her head before sighing and putting her helmet back on. "Omega, get over here."

Tex feels Omega slip away and a moment later, his hologram is hanging over South's shoulder.

"Can you get in contact with Theta from here? Without anyone else finding out?"

" **Of course I can."**

Tex blinks at them. "What are you doing?"

"North will help." South explains. "I know he will. And he'll find others who will too."

"You're not coming with me." Tex clarifies. "I'm dropping you off somewhere safe and going back by myself. You're not getting involved."

The look Omega and South exchange sends a worrisome chill down Tex's back.

"Don't think you have much of a choice in this."

Where the hell South found rope is a mystery Tex ponders the entire ride back to the Mother of Invention.

\---

The ship sits in silence at it nears the Mother of Invention. Both South and Tex sit by the controls, fully armoured as Omega's hologram sits between them.

The radio crackles to life: " _Mother of Invention to Pelican. Identify yourself."_

Tex nods in Omega's direction and he disappears into her suit. A moment later, her voice filter activates, perfectly copying the voice of one of the junior pilots. "Mother of Invention this is Gary bringing ya'll this week's latest in sports news and scented soaps. What's up?"

South tilts her helmet in Tex's direction, earning her a raised middle finger in response.

The voice on the other end sounds suspicious. " _You're early._ "

"I know! Awesome, right? Think I beat Four-Seven-Niner's record?

" _Hah! Not a chance, rookie. Head over to Bay 3 for screening. You know the drill."_

Both girls breathe a sigh of relief as the radio cuts off.

Tex shoos Omega back out of her armour almost immediately. "Omega, can you let Theta know where we'll be landing?"

He disappears into the ship without a word.

Handing the controls back to South, Tex sits back in her seat, watching as the Mother of Invention grows in front of them until it takes up everything in sight. The bay doors open in front of them and as they slip through the clear force field she takes a deep breath.

No backing out now.

\---

The waiting guards are already on the floor by the time the ship lands. York stands above them, looking mighty proud of himself while North stands back with a pair of oversized sniper rifles on each shoulder.

"Ten seconds. Eye still giving you some trouble?"

"My eye is perfect. Anyway, it's faster then you could've done it."

"I could have done it with a single bullet. Not even exaggerating."

"And woken up half the ship while you were at it."

"What can I say? I have flair."

"Is that what you call shooting a guy in half from his groin to his head with a repeating laser rifle?"

"Nah. I called that a good time."

Tex shoots South a look as they exit. She just shrugs in response. "Can you believe they still say I'm the weird twin?"

"No one says you're the weird twin." York clarifies, waving at the ladies as they approach. "We all say you're the evil twin. There's a difference."

"Right. My bad."

North is by South's side in two steps. "What's going on? Theta wouldn't say much."

South sounds surprised. "Theta's keeping stuff from you?"

"He says I should hear it from you. What happened?"

"We got back from the mission and you two were just gone." York explains. "The Director says you two were working with CT the whole time and broke her out after killing a bunch of our own men. You two are public enemy number one around here."

"But I know you better." North insists. "So what really happened?"

South looks to Tex for help, but she shakes her head. 

"They killed CT." South begins, watching their reactions carefully. York swears and looks at the ground, but North stays where he is. "She found out what the Director was really doing and how we were all going to have to pay for it when he finally gets found out. He's been having us steal from the UNSC and its allies to further his own inventions. All of his mind games, all of our missions... Everything was just a ploy to help him study his precious little AI fragments and torture the Alpha-"

"Alpha?" Theta and Delta appear over their respective freelancers in synch.

Theta turns worriedly toward North almost immediately. "What does she mean Alpha's being tortured?"

"Exposure to a high stress situation could theoretically cause an AI to fracture away a part of itself to stay safe." Delta explains, considering the news.

"The Director wouldn't do that!" Theta insists.

Delta shrugs. "Harder to explain is how we became healthy fragments. The stress would have to be strong enough to feel like corrupted data. The fragments themselves would automatically become corrupted through the process."

Before Tex can say anything, she feels Omega in her mind. He finds the memory of the video CT showed her and sends it to his brothers. Judging by North's sudden change in stance and York doubling over in pain, the fragments share the video with their partners.

South grabs her brother instinctively. "North?"

He doesn't shakes her off, but he does turn to face Tex. "Tell me we're going to kill him."

"Slowly and painfully." She promises. "But first, we need to get the Alpha to safety."

"That's for damn sure." York agrees from his place on the ground. "How?"

"I'm going to fuck shit up." South begins.

Tex translates: "South is going to give us a distraction."

"York's bringing in the cavalry."

"York, I want you to find Wash, Maine and anyone else you think'll join our fight. Wether or not they have an AI."

Small problem." York says. "Wash is still in medical. Something was off during his surgery. And Maine's been AWOL on the ship since the Director told us what happened with you two. He was pissed."

Something in Tex's stomach drops but she ignores it. "Check and see if Wash is awake and able to fight. And keep an eye out for the others. We're going to need everyone we can get."

She nods at South to continue.

"Then the dynamic duo are saving the princess."

"North and I are going to go find the Alpha."

"Finally. We kill the Director."

Tex nods. That part doesn't need a translation.

York speaks up again. "What about Carolina? She has two AI now."

"... If you can get her to see reason, sure."

"She's not that bad, Tex."

Tex ignores him, facing the twins instead. "Are we good to go?"

North nods and goes to leave the room but South stands her ground. "There's just one last thing I need..."

\---

South wanders the halls of the Mother of Invention alone as the others bicker back and forth on their shared radio.

" _I'm just saying I think firing cannons at ourself is a fool-proof plan."_

_"I don't think that word means what you think it means, York."_

_"What, cannons? I know what cannons are!"_

_"I rest my case."_  
  
South rolls her eyes. "Tex, can you shut them both up?"

 _"I think her radio is muted."_ North sighs. _"She's a bit busy busting balls."_

"And what are you doing?"

There's the sound of a gun firing and the faint screams of 'AH! My balls!' over the radio before North speaks again. _"I'm providing assistance, of course."_

South stops as the small black glow of Omega's hologram sparks to life beside her. **"Your brother is... strange."**

"You don't know the half of it. Can you believe they call me the weird twin?"

_"South we've been over this. EVIL twin. Not weird twin."_

_"Speaking of evil..."_

South rolls her eyes again at her brother's tone, ducking into a corridor as Omega points out an upcoming heat signature on her HUD. "Omega's fine. He's more then fine. I like him, North."

_"I'm just worried. Are you sure taking him was a good idea?"_

"Well he just saved my ass from being spotted so maybe show him a bit of faith, okay?

_"Fine. Just... Be careful."_

"Yeah." She promises. "You too."

Her radio falls silent for the first time since she and Tex landed and she takes a minute to just BREATHE.

Omega's hologram returns to life. **"I have taken the liberty of switching off the CO2 scrubbers in the engineering section. Your route will be clear."**

"Just long enough to knock everybody out, right?"

Omega's hologram disappears without answering. South smiles and opens the next door. The bodies of a few soldiers lay scattered on the ground, as if they'd fallen asleep at their post. She imagines they probably did.

She walks through the room quickly until she finds what she was looking for: the gravity generator.

"So what sort of trouble can we get into here?"

"Oh I think you're already in a heap of trouble, young lady."

She barely dodges the shot from Wyoming's rifle, ducking behind the generator immediately. "Mother fuck! Where did he come from?"

**"He was waiting. Doesn't that make you angry?"**

"It sure as fuck doesn't make me calm!"

**"Perhaps I could..."**

Tex had warned her not to let Omega take over. He didn't know when to stop.

"Knock knock, little birdie."

Fuck it. She'll understand. "Let's burn his goddam moustache off."

\---

Medical is strangely empty when York arrives. Nonetheless, he sneaks in quietly, Delta monitoring for heat signatures and finding only patients left inside.

Washington's room is closest to the door, but that won't make York's job any easier. Wash is still in his power armour, helmet on, and... shackled to the bed.

"Jesus..."

"I thought his name was David?"

York blinks once and suddenly a small blue hologram is sitting cross legged on Washington's chest. "Who are you?"

"Who are you?" The AI shoots back.

"I asked you first."

"I asked you second."

York bites back a grin before stepping closer. Immediately the blue AI skips out of sight, reappearing next to Washington's distress beacon. "Take another step and I'll have every soldier on the ship in here."

"Woah!" York stops, hands up In surrender. "I'm one of Wash's friends. You've synched with him, right?"

The AI stays silent, but moves back toward his freelancer. "I... Yeah. But it's messy. I think I remember you. Something about an accident with your ugly mug?"

York nods and takes off his helmet, ignoring Delta's warning murmur. The AI whistles at the sight of his scar.

"Damn."

"Yeah. I'm handsome as fuck, huh?"

"Eh."

"So what are you? Snark? Sarcasm? Humour?"

The AI shifts uncomfortably. "I'm Epsilon. Just... Epsilon."

York nods again, deciding against pressing further. "Okay Epsilon, well, I'm Agent New York but you can just call me York. I'm one of Washington's friends, and I'm here to get him somewhere safe."

Epsilon perks up. "You're getting us out of here?"

"Of course I am, buddy. Does that sound good to you?"

"Yeah... Yeah it does."

With a final smile at Epsilon, York puts his helmet back on and fishes a small lock pick out of his back pocket. "This'll just be a minute. Mind telling me how his vitals are doing?"

Epsilon nods, looking back at his Freelancer for a moment. "He's... Okay. Doctors said he should stay asleep for a bit cause of what happened."

"And what happened?"

"We tried to synch. It didn't go so well."

York blinks up at him as he gets the first handcuff off. "That can happen?"

"With the safeguards set in your neural implants, the chances of causing an accidental overload during synch is less than a single percent." Delta points out, finally joining the conversation in hologram form.

Epsilon stares at him before shrinking away. "Go away. Please go away."

"You're scaring the new kid, D."

"My apologies." He winks out again, returning to York's subconscious as York moves to the other side of the bed.

"Anyway, Epsilon, how-"

York doesn't get to finish his sentence. Delta shouts out a warning as a heat signature blurs through the hall and into the room, but all it does is get York to stiffen before Carolina's shoulder barrels into him, sending him into the wall.

The shock wears off in time for him to duck and dodge her next attack. He rolls under Wash's bed and stands up again on the opposite side. "Carolina? What the heck?"

"I expected treason from Texas and South. But you? I thought you were better then this."

"Come on, Carolina. You don't mean that."

"You're right." She agrees, raising one of her guns at his face. "You aren't better then this."

His face falls, voice dropping with hurt. "Carolina... You don't understand. They murdered CT."

"She was a traitor."

The coldness of her voice hits him like a shot to the chest. "Does that mean she deserved torture? An execution? She was part of our team. Your team."

"She was... She was selling information to the Insurrectionist." Her voice wavers slightly before strengthening again. "She was nothing more then a traitor!"

"Then I guess I'm a traitor too."

She brings the gun up again but then she hesitates.

Washington doesn't.

With one hand still cuffed to the bed, he kicks out, knocking Carolina's weapons out of her grasp and across the room. She spins with the hit before staring at him in shock. "What the FUCK?!"

It isn't Wash's voice that answers her. "York! Get us out of here! She's with him!"

York stops in confusion, not noticing the tightness in Carolina's shoulders.

Her voice is hot with anger. "Are you fucking controlling him? Are you insane?"

Wash's helmet tilts curiously before grabbing the vase of flowers left next to his bed and tossing them at her head. She dodges toward her guns.

"York!"

Epsilon's voice shocks him out of his trance. Wash holds his still-cuffed arm out to him and York dives to unlock it.

They stand just as Carolina returns with her guns raised again. "All right boys, let's dance."

\---

_"Heads up guys, ran into a bit of a problem in medical while getting Wash. Might be held up a bit."_

The sound of fighting follows his words before York's transmission ends. Tex stops, North at her heels as she checks something on her HUD.

"I think he's fighting Carolina."

North looks back down the way they came, toward medical. If they doubled back they might be able to get there before Carolina flat out kills him, but it would make South's distraction meaningless. "He can handle it."

"You sure?" Tex doesn't sound convinced.

North doesn't either. "Yeah. He can."

"She's not going to kill him." Florida sighs from his place in the shadows. "Maybe beat him up a bit and take out his other eye, but that's about it."

Tex has her fists up in one breath. North already has both rifles pointed at Florida's escape routes. To their surprise, Florida steps out into the light, hands up in surrender.

"Don't worry kiddos, I'm not here to fight you. Honestly I can't stand the idea of those poor little AIs being tortured away day and night under my very roof. Absolutely awful, it is."

North gives Tex a concerned look but she hasn't taken her eyes off Florida. "You're not the kind of guy I expected to help us."

"You've got it all wrong!" Florida coos, shaking his head. "See this is how it went down. You two got the jump on little old me and beat me up something awful! Reggie will nurse me back to health and I'll get a nice little reward from the Director for doing my absolute best to stop two of his best soldiers when I'm not even on the leaderboard."

Tex hasn't moved, but North is confused enough that his guns have dropped slightly. "So... That's it? You're just going to let us go?"

Florida nods before pointing to his left leg. "If you please, darling. Make it clean and convincing."

North shoots Tex a look and this time she faces him. She nods.

He shoots.

\---

"Knock knock!"

"How about we knock you out instead you British fuck?"

South lunges for Wyoming, barely missing his helmet as he dives backward and away from her, tripping her as she passes by and sending her face first into the wall.

"Kiss your mother with that mouth?"

"No but I've done worse with yours."

"Now that was just unnecessarily crude."

She grabs his dropped sniper rifle and swings it out in an arch, pulling the trigger at the perfect moment. It passes between Wyoming's legs, barely missing his manhood, and SHATTERING the protective layer of the artificial gravity generator.

It sparks once before humming to a stop.

Instantly, Wyoming starts to float off the ground. South doesn't, Omega having already activated her gravity boots. As Wyoming floats toward them, South grabs the rifle like a bat.

"Hey Woming, knock knock."

"Who is it?"

"Lights."

"Lights who?"

She slams the rifle against his helmet, knocking it off and him out cold.

"Lights out."

Omega's hologram appears to her side as he disengages from her neural network. **"That was terrible."**

"You should hear his. Now can you make sure this room gets enough oxygen to keep him alive?"

Omega's hologram grows darker as he does what she asks. **"He deserves death."**

"Yeah probably." She smiles as she pulls out a knife from her back pocket. "But I want him alive to see the mess I'm going to make of his moustache."

**"... I may love you."**

"Bitch, everybody loves me."

\---

Carolina's aim gets thrown off as the Gravity suddenly disappears and the fighting trio float up into the air. Almost immediately York and Carolina engage their gravity boots and resume their battle positions, but then Carolina looks past York and her arms drop.

York turns around.

Wash is still floating, his gloves wrapped around the neck of his armour as rough, raspy breaths make their way out of his helmet. "Wash?"

Carolina throws York out of the way as she pounces on Wash, pulling his helmet off. "Wash? Wash look at me!"

Wash's eyes are clear, but confused. Carolina pulls his hands free of his neck, but he's still panicking. "I... I can't... I don't know... I keep seeing it. Seeing her."

His voice is wrong. Younger, higher pitched, off. It's like-

Delta appears between the boys. "Epsilon, your fear is affecting Agent Washington. You must relax. I have downloaded a textbook on anxiety attacks and am compiling the data on how to best relieve symptoms now."

York reels back with realization as Carolina's helmet turns to seethe at Delta.

Delta ignores both of them. "Have your agent breathe in time with my commands. One... Two..."

Wash's chest rises and sets slowly, breath regulating and body relaxing as Delta slowly counts to ten.

"Epsilon, are you capable again?"

Wash nods. His voice still sounds off. "Yeah, I... I'm good. Sorry. The gravity thing set him off. Made him think of the surgery and that's... It wasn't good."

Delta's hologram nods. "Understandable. Have him sleep again and watch over him."

Wash's eyes slip closed and his body relaxes, drifting with only Carolina's hold on his arms keeping him from floating away. She pushes him down onto the bed and York quickly ties the sheet around his midsection, keeping him tied to the bed.

York turns to look at Carolina. "What just happened?"

In response she clocks him across the head. His boots deactivate and he drifts off across the room, unconscious. Carolina grabs his boot before he gets too far, keeping him close. She looks down at Wash, studying his face before sighing.

"I'll get that thing out of you Wash, I promise."

Delta appears in front of her almost immediately. "That will likely cause more damage then has already occurred. Epsilon and Agent Washington have clearly already synched. Forcing an ejection could cause memory loss on a large scale. As it is, Agent Washington is looking at months in recovery before he can be trusted to control himself unsupervised."

"Supervised by who?" Carolina asks, voice dripping with poison. "By that thing?"

"By Epsilon, yes."

"That thing destroyed his mind. I'm not going to let him use Wash as a puppet!"

To his credit, Delta stays silent for a moment as he considers the conversation. "Agent Carolina, why do you insist on referring to us as tools? Are Eta and Iota not your partners? Am I not Agent York's?"

She laughs at that, Eta and Iota's holograms appearing on either side of her helmet, glancing across at each other, and then disappearing once again. "You things are just tools. How do you not get that? You were made to make OUR lives easier. And Epsilon is clearly defective."

Delta looks back at Washington. "Defective is another way of saying he needs help. Will you not help us?"

"Defective things have to be destroyed, Delta."

He doesn't have a response to that.

She lets go of York's foot and watches him float away.

Delta's hologram watches her leave before blinking off.

\---

_"Agent Carolina has incapacitated both Agents Washington and York. She is likely on her way to you now."_

"Thanks D." Tex sighs into her helmet. "Keep an eye on them and keep them safe."

_"I will do what I can."_

She turns to look at North on the floor as he tries to pick the lock to the bridge. "How's it coming?"

"It's... No. I have no idea what I'm doing. This is harder then I expected it to be."

"Looks like York was good for something after all." She teases, voice carrying a hint of amusement as she moves toward the door. North stands back immediately as she kicks at the door with her prosthetic leg.

It shudders and cracks, but stays put. Her injured, human leg screams in agony, but she pushes the pain aside. She pulls back to swing a punch and it lands beautifully, throwing the door off its hinges and across the room inside, knocking a waiting soldier aside like a rag doll.

North opens fire as Tex disengages her gravity boots and floats inside.

It's like a dance between them, Tex up and close to the soldiers guarding the room as she fights her way through the room. Every soldier she aims for stays down, and the ones who aim for her don't get farther then raising their weapons before North has a bullet in their skull.

The whole thing is over in under a minute. Tex scans the room once to confirm before waving North in. "All clear."

North floats in, looking around at the carnage with a whistle. "Why were we never partnered up before this? We make a good team."

"Pretty sure that's exactly why." She stops herself from continuing down that train of thought as her eyes land on the small storage unit in the centre of the room, floating just above a large computer and attached by only a few thin wires. The whole thing looks too frail and delicate to hold what it does. She can feel his call even from inside her body.

Her hand is resting on the unit gently before she even realizes what she's doing. A small purple and pink firework erupts next to her hand, Theta appearing next to her as he stares at the unit in awe. "Is... Is he in there?"

"He is." Tex answers.

"Can I meet him?"

The tenderness and wonder in his voice pulls at something Tex didn't realize she had. "Sure, kid. But after we're all safe and far away from here, okay? We need to make sure Alpha stays safe."

Theta nods and looks back at North. "Yeah. North is really good at keeping me safe. I'm sure he can help keep Alpha safe too!"

North nods when Tex turns to look at him. "That's right. Now let's get him out of there."

"None of you are going anywhere."

North swings around to point his rifle at Carolina but she shoots both of them out of his hands immediately. They float off into the air and Tex watches them go.

"Now both of you get on the floor and let FILSS lock down your armour. Nobody needs to get hurt."

"Someone is already getting hurt." North points out, telling Tex to keep silent with a hand. "The Director's been torturing the Alpha AI since the start. We have to stop him."

"Why?" Her helmet locks onto Tex's and Tex swears she can see Carolina's smile. "They aren't people, North. Not like you and me."

Tex sees red. She dives, ignoring North's shout as Carolina shoots.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that happened. I originally had very different plans for Washington and Epsilon for this story, but then I was re-reading some of Salt's pieces and realized just how badly I NEED Epsilon and Wash interactions in my life. So they'll be around in at least a few future pieces. 
> 
> South and Omega were always going to end up together. I Headcannon that Omega adapts his personality to fit whomever is hosting him so a South-inspired Omega is happening. It's what I hope to someday be known for in this fandom. 
> 
> Lastly: I HAVE ALWAYS BELIEVED CAROLINA KNEW TEX WAS AN AI. From the line "I know all about your little secret. What you really are." I know the lead up from the convo with Sigma and Gamma means it was likely about Tex having an AI and telling no one about it, but what if Carolina knew Tex was just an AI the entire time? HOW MESSED UP WOULD THAT BE?


	5. Run

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Tex vs Carolina, North vs Gravity and everyone vs an unexpected foe in the Parallels finale.

Parallels  
Chapter Five

\---

Carolina's shot grazes Tex's armour as she dives, sending her shooting off to the side. The path to North is clear but Carolina instantly turns her attention back to Tex, each shot barely missing the other soldier as she flies through the gravity-free atmosphere.

Tex manages to get close to one of North's abandoned rifles and grabs it.

"North!"

"Right!"

She tosses the rifle to him and he's shooting at Carolina's feet immediately.

She stumbles back, flipping to the lower level of the bridge for cover. "Stop helping her!"

North just chuckles at her anger. "You know I can't do that, Carolina."

"Why?!"

She pokes her head out to look at him and he shoots just right of her helmet.

"Same reason I missed that shot."

Carolina's voice grows dangerous. "You're making a big mistake, North."

"I've made a lot of mistakes, boss. This really isn't one of them."

Carolina tries unsuccessfully to peak over the ledge once more before just blindly shooting at North. He dodges it easily.

The navigation system behind him doesn't.

He eyes it warily as it starts sparking. "Uh oh."

Tex lunges across the room and punts Carolina across the chest, sending her flying before turning to look at North. "Uh oh? What's uh oh?"

"I think Carolina shot something important."

Carolina throws a punch at Tex which she dodges, trying and failing to land a counter blow to Carolina's legs. Neither girl notices as the ship begins to drift, even as a nearby planet begins to fall into view, quickly getting larger as the ship falls into its gravitational pull.

North makes a humming noise. "Definitely shot something important."

Theta's hologram sparks to life in front of him. "Are we going to crash?"

"Looks like..." North pauses as he gets an idea. "Hey Theta, do you think you can talk to FILSS and see if you can get the ship back in order?"

Theta's hologram kicks at the air nervously. "I don't want to leave you alone..."

"I won't be alone, buddy." He motions toward the ladies fighting behind him. "And I'll stay right here until you get back, okay?"

"Promise?"

"I promise."

With a sigh, North turns to look at the girls, just in time to dodge one of Carolina's guns. Not a bullet or a beam of energy. The actual gun.

He's just about had it. "Would you two stop already? We're about to crash and I would really appreciate some help over here!"

"We're busy!" Carolina shouts at him, grabbing one of Tex's legs during a kick and using it to swing the other girl around and into the air.

Tex quickly uses her gravity boots to latch onto the drifting door. "Just handle it!"

North let's out a long sigh, watching as Carolina immediately dives back toward Tex. "I will never understand women..."

Theta's hologram reappears, shimmering with nervous energy. "I can't do it! It's too broken!"

North's stomach plummets. "Hey, that's okay. We-"

"I have an idea."

North stares at him. "You can stop the ship from crashing?"

"No." Theta states, hologram standing tall. "But I can save you."

\---

York isn't completely conscious when he hears North's voice over their shared radio.

" _South, York. Things got hairy up here and they're about to get a lot worse."_

York groans in response, just wanting to keep his eyes shut for a while longer. His head feels like it's about to explode.

" _I need you guys to prepare for impact._ "

Oh shit, sleeping can wait.

He feels a shot of adrenaline go through his system and then his legs are tugged downward by his gravity boots and everything spins.

He nearly throws up in his own helmet.

The green glow of Delta's hologram shines through his eyelids. "York, I would not recommend moving. You-"

"Can it, D. Just... Give me a minute."

"By my estimate, we have just under two minutes before impact."

Okay. Being a wuss over nausea can wait too. He takes a few deep breaths and then opens his eyes.

... He's upside down.

"My apologies, York. The roof was closer then the floor."

"No. This... This is fine." Oh god he's going to drown in his own sick. He just knows it. "I just need to find something to hold onto."

"The cots seem to be bolted securely to the floor but I am unsure as to how you can hold both yourself and Agent Washington in one without causing further injury to either of you."

Shit, he'd forgotten about Wash.

Delta's hologram motions toward Wash's nearby bed and York quickly makes his way over, trying desperately to ignore the pang of nausea that comes with moving. Luckily his earlier knot had kept Wash to the bed, but it wouldn't keep him secure during a crash.

York gets an idea. "Hey D, can you lock down my armour if I need you to?"

"As in... What occurs when you are hit with lockdown paint?"

"Exactly that." With a small amount of effort, York climbs onto Washington's cot, keeping the younger man pinned with his armour, his hands locking tightly around the guardrail a on either side of the bed.

Delta considers for a moment before blinking out and reappearing. "I have just downloaded the necessary files from FILSS in order to simulate the same effect in your armour. Would you like me to share this with Epsilon?"

"Yeah. Anything that can save the kid's life."

Delta nods and blinks out once again. When he returns, York feels his armour suddenly grow stiff.

"Hey D?"

"Yes York?"

"You'd better not be filling up the storage space in my suit with useless trivia stuff. If we survive this, remind me to talk to you about this new downloading habit of yours."

"I will not."

"You won't what? Remind me? Or fill up my suit with trivia?"

"... Yes.

"Smart ass."

\---

" **What are you doing. I already told you to go left.** "

"Left doesn't have anything important." South shoots back, running down the opposite hall.

" **Left has the ship's escape pods.** "

"Like I said, nothing important. We're already in the planet's atmosphere. What we need is to get to one of the crash bunkers."

" **Your chances of survival are higher in a pod than on this ship."**

"Now you're sounding like Delta."

That finally shuts Omega up. At least for a moment.

South slips through a door to one of the bunkers only to skid to a stop as the dozen soldiers waiting for impact suddenly stare at her.

Omega's hologram flickers to life on her shoulder. " **Their bodies would make a nice cushion."**

She grabs her pistol with a smirk. "Depends if anybody wants to start something."

Three of the men holding weapons immediately drop them to the floor, hands up in surrender.

"Yeah that's what I thought."

\---

After carefully unplugging the Alpha's storage unit from the computer, North clutches it to his chest tightly.

"Will it hold?" Theta wonders nervously, hologram flitting around his partner.

"We will be fine." North promises. "You ready to do this?"

"Yeah." Theta agrees, hologram standing tall. "It's just like in practice!"

"I trust you, kiddo." North secures himself against the guard rail of the bridge and finally focuses his attention on the girls fighting behind him. "Tex! Carolina! Get over here!"

A glow fills the room as the ship begins to enter the planet's atmosphere. Then suddenly the whole room LURCHES and suddenly the lack of gravity doesn't matter. Everything flies to the back of the room, North barely managing to stay standing.

Tex groans as she hits the far wall, the impact knocking the wind out of her lungs. For a long moment, she actually feels human.

Then her suit is sending her information on her vitals without the need for her HUD and she remembers what she is.

"Tex! Theta's got a plan!"

Alright then. Current goal: Get to North.

She manages to roll to her side, but as soon as her eyes are open she spots Carolina holding onto the open doorframe for dear life. Their helmets lock eyes.

Amendment to current goal: Save Carolina. THEN get to North.

"Carolina, hold on!"

She can feel Carolina's glare through her helmet. "What do you think I'm doing?!"

"Any day now, ladies!" North reminds them as Tex considers just leaving her.

She thinks better of it and crawls up to Carolina, hooking her arms underneath Carolina's and locking her arms around her back.

"Tex, what the hell-"

"Grab your grappling hook and get us to North. I won't let you fall."

Carolina doesn't move.

"Carolina, I promise."

The other girl let's out a short laugh. "Right, and I'm supposed to believe that?"

"Stop being so goddam stubborn and just do it!"

The ship creaks, a crack appearing on the wall next to them.

North flinches as Theta's hologram jumps in fear. "Tex! Lina!"

This time Carolina doesn't hesitate. She wraps her left arm around Tex, nearly pulling them both over, but Tex holds her tight. With her right hand, she grabs her grappling hook and aims it at North. She shoots true and in a second both ladies are flying through the air.

They crash next to North and he lunges over them to keep them in place.

"Theta now!"

"Right!"

In a second, North's bubble shield expands around them, just as the whiteness of the planet's northern pole begins to fill the area in front of them.

Tex puts a hand on the Alpha's storage unit and everything around her disappears.

\---

The labyrinth is somehow even colder then it was the first time Tex was there. This time Alpha doesn't appear to greet her, and everything around her just feels... Empty.

It's almost like he isn't even here.

For a moment she feels panic, afraid that she made a mistake, that the storage unit was just a decoy and the Alpha is somewhere completely different. But that isn't right. She felt his presence when she was outside of the unit. So why-

She steps through an arch in the labyrinth and suddenly everything around her fades into code, rearranging itself into a broken, cracked room. Blue light shines through the cracks, filling the room in an unnecessary glow, illuminating a huddled figure hugging itself in the corner.

She stops. This isn't right.

The last time she saw the Alpha he was warm and full of life. He was scared and timid, but he was happy when he saw her, and he was full of love. He'd been tortured and torn apart but he was still so... Full.

What lay before her was a mess of code. He was weak and pathetic and looking at him made her feel sick.

How could three more fragments do so much damage?

"Hey."

He doesn't look at her when she speaks.

She takes a few steps further until she's almost on top of him. She reaches down and her hand phases right through him. He pulls away quickly, part of her code unraveling and going with him.

"Who are you?!"

He isn't afraid, despite his quickness to pull away. Instead, he's looking at her curiously, almost like its the first time he's seen her.

"You don't remember me?"

"Should I? I... I'm sorry. I'm having trouble remembering."

Oh.

Oh no.

It's like all her fears and worries have come to life. She found him, but too late to save him. He's already gone.

He doesn't notice her unease. "What was your name again?"

"I'm... Tex."

"Oh. And who am I?"

"You're Alpha."

"Oh." He seems to consider that for a moment before giving her a weak smile. "Tex is a weird name for a girl."

"You gave it to me."

It isn't quite a lie.

"Why'd I do that?"

"Maybe if you think about it, you'll remember."

"Oh... I don't know about that."

The sadness in his voice hits her like a bullet. "Maybe if you come with me it'll help you remember."

"I don't think I can do that... I'm just... I'm just really tired. You know?"

She failed.

"Do you want to rest?"

"Yeah." He nods. "I think I want to go to sleep."

She doesn't know what to say to that.

Luckily, she doesn't need to.

A small purple glow begins to fill the room, slowly taking shape into a small child with messy hair and a happy face.

Theta.

For a moment, both boys just stare at each other. Theta breaks the silence first.

"Are... You Alpha?"

The Alpha seems to shock himself back into order at the sound of Theta's voice. "Um. Yes? Maybe. Tex says I am but I don't really remember..."

"That's okay!" Theta assures him with a big smile. "We can help you remember!"

"We?"

"My brothers and sisters and me. You made us."

The Alpha looks up at Tex sharply, confused. "I don't remember."

"I'll tell you all about them!" Theta continues, ignoring the look the older AIs give each other. "Delta is one of my big brothers. He's really smart, like, crazy smart and always makes sure my calculations are right so I don't hurt my partner, North."

"North?" Tex swears she sees something pass over the Alpha's coding at the mention of North's name, but as quickly as it appears it gone. "Who-"

"Omega is with us too. He's kind of mean, but he's still helping us save you because that's the right thing to do, and because he wants to keep all of us safe."

"What do you mean with us? With you? Where are they?"

Tex can feel the confusion and unease radiating off the Alpha in waves. With a step, she's by Theta's side, smothering his energy to keep him from over stimulating the Alpha.

"We came to rescue you." She explains finally. "You're being held by a someone who's hurting you. We have partners, humans, who can't turn into code like we can. Their names are North and South Dakota, New York and Washington. They're risking a lot to help you."

The Alpha stays quiet at that. "I don't know if I can leave. I don't know how to."

"We'll help you." Theta promises as he walks up to the Alpha and takes his hand. "You just have to trust us."

There's unbearable silence for a long moment while the Alpha stares at Theta. Finally, Tex sighs. "You trust us, don't you?"

Alpha looks up, his gaze locking with Tex's. "Yeah... Yeah I do."

Everything fades.

\---

I wish I could tell you that when Tex and Alpha returned to her body, everything went great. I wish I could say she and North found South and York and went on their way. Washington got the help he needed and Epsilon helped Alpha regain his memories. They took the fragments to the UNSC proper and had the Director tried in military court.

Perhaps there's a world where that happened.

This isn't that world.

\---

Tex opens her eyes to the sounds of Theta screaming and the sight of the bubble shield cracking.

Maine's on the other side, taking shot after shot at them.

"What the hell is going on?"

Carolina shoots her a glance as she stands. "About time you woke up. You got him?"

Alpha stirs in her neural implants as she tells him to keep hidden. "Yeah."

North glances over at her before focusing on the shield, voice calm and even. "To answer your question, Maine's gone mental."

"It's not Maine." Carolina growls. "It's Sigma."

Tex turns her glare on her. "Not everything bad that happens is because of the AI."

Carolina stares at her before pointing at the fiery red glow on Maine's shoulder. Sigma stands with his arms crossed behind him, smug grin clear as day.

"Oh."

"Got any bright ideas?"

"Hit him really hard?"

"... How the fuck are you beating me on the leaderboard?"

"Ladies please, you're both beautiful."

Tex and Carolina turn their glares onto North but before either of them can comment, the bubble shield shatters. North goes flying, crying out as he lands against a desk roughly. Maine takes a step toward him and Tex pounces on North, covering him with her body. She waits for the searing pain of Maine's weapon piercing her armour but there's nothing.

Instead, she hears Carolina's voice. 

"Maine. I know you're in there."

North pushes Tex off of him so they can stare at the sight before them.

Maine stands still, hands by his side as Carolina cups his helmet with her right hand. "Just put the gun down, Maine. We can get through this together."

Maine drops his weapon to the ground where it clatters against the metal loudly. His hands go up to her shoulders, and Carolina melts into him.

"It's okay. Everything will be okay."

Tex catches the slight red glow behind Maine and cries out, but it's too late.

Maine's right hand closes around Carolina's throat.

Her helmet is thrown to the side.

Blood mixes in with her hair as Maine digs the dual AI chips from her head.

He tosses her aside like a doll before turning his attention toward Tex and North.

Tex stands, ready to fight-

And that's when York comes flying out of nowhere, grabbing onto Maine's helmet from behind, hanging off the taller man like a cowboy on a wild bronco. It would have been funny if not for Carolina's still form lying only feet away.

"North! Tex! Get your asses over here!" South yells from her place on the far side of the room, where cracked glass has created a small doorway. Wash's still form lies draped over her back.

Tex pulls North up to his feet and then pushes him toward his sister. "Go! I'll catch up!"

"NO!" York falls to the side as Maine finally manages to drag him off his back. Instead of glaring at Maine, his helmet is focused on Tex. "Go! Get the Alpha out of here!"

Tex feels herself freeze at the same second Sigma's hologram solidifies, his gaze locked on hers.

"The Alpha?"

York realizes his mistake too late, scrambling back to his feet as Maine starts stalking toward Tex. "Hey! Your fight is with ME!" He runs right into Maine's outstretched arm, Maine lifting him off his feet in one fluid movement.

Sigma's grin sends a cold shiver down Tex's back. "You have a choice to make, Agent Texas. Your friend's life or the Alpha AI."

"Go!" York yells, hands clasped around Maine's to keep from being choked. "Don't make this be for nothing!"

"It was not for nothing." Sigma soothes, attention on York for the first time. "Betrayal, loss, anarchy. The perfect recipe for the Meta to come to life."

His attention turns back to Tex. She hasn't moved her feet, her right hand raised only slightly to make sure the twins stay back with Washington.

Sigma's head tilts to the side softly. "After we are done with York, I believe Theta and Omega will make wonderful additions to the Meta. Epsilon as well, broken as he may be."

Tex feels rage pour through her veins, adrenaline pumping as she imagines throttling the life out of Sigma. But first, she'll have to deal with Maine...

" _Tex? What's going on?"_

Alpha's voice hits her like a cold wave, pulling the anger out and replacing it with fear.

If she loses, what'll happen to the Alpha?

She sees movement to her left, the Director standing behind a wall of shaking soldiers as he watches the scene in the Bridge with a frozen frown.

If she wins, what'll happen to her?

Carolina's eyes are open now. Her green eyes locked onto Tex's helmet.

If she leaves, what'll happen to her team?

" _Tex_?"

No. She has one job right now. And that's to keep the Alpha safe.

She shoots out the nearest window, glass shattering around her as she jumps out. Her feet hit the ground and she's already running.

She hears York scream out in pain, but she doesn't turn around.

She runs.

And runs.

And runs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that happened. I've got the main story arc sort of plotted out but a lot of the stories can be told out of order so I'm not sure what's coming next. Probably Wash and Epsilon's solo story. 
> 
> I've also got a ton and a half short story ideas about this verse that I'm dying to tell so I may just make a one-shot specific thread for those. 
> 
> Making Maine into the Meta physically hurt, but Sigma is such a good bad guy.

**Author's Note:**

> After weeks of thinking about it, and outlining it, and teasing people about it, I'm writing ANOTHER Tex Fic. This'll be a short one, more of an intro to the world of "Mercs with Mouths" then anything, but it's an important one. And I'm just so thrilled to finally be able to write me some Connie stuff.


End file.
